55 out of 55 people found this review helpful.
Pac Man Fever For GameCube -- A Fun and Harmless Multi-Player Game
Date of Review: Dec 11, 2006
The Bottom Line: A game for everyone, Pac-Man Fever is a fun game for groups that can have 4 people playing simultaneously and can be a great competition.
I purchased the GameCube a number of years ago primarily for the Mario Games, NBA Live, and Madden Football, but have also received other games as gifts that allowed me to further enjoy my system. One of those games is the Namco release of Pac-Man Fever, which takes some of the most famous characters of the Namco brand, and places them into many head-to-head formatted games. Those characters include Pac-Man, Ms. Pac-Man, Reiko from Ridge Racer, Astaroth from Soul Calibur, and Tiger/Heihachi from Tekkon. Each of the six players is created with equal attributes, you are pretty much just choosing which face you would like to represent you in the games you are about to play.
From the main menu of the game, you have the choice of playing either "Fever" or "Mini-Game". The Fever option allows you to compete in board games to win redemption tickets that you can use to buy all the Mini-Games. The boards each have special themes that you can choose to play, with varying lengths of Short, Normal, and Long. These are pretty easy games, and resemble an interactive board game. Each player starts at the beginning, and a mini-game is played. In each mini-game, 4 players are participating, with the first places person being assigned 5 points, going down to 1 point for 4th place. These points translate to moves on the squares within the board, and the computer moves each player forward. On each square there are things like coin rewards, smaller mini-games that people play by themselves, challenge matches where you can take on an opponent and steal some of their coins, or automatic reward squares. The winner is the one who completes the game using those coins to advance.
The Mini-Games that can be played within the Fever game, or by themselves, are accessible through a different screen where you can choose to play one of them at a time. If you are up to it, you can also choose to play in a pentathlon where 5 of the mini-games is played one after another, or a decathlon event where 10 of the mini-games are played. In each of the games, there are always 4 participants, and any position not taken on by a live player will be given an AI player. The object is to either win the one game, or achieve the most points in the 5 game or 10 game options. At the end of each round, a standings page is offered to show exactly where each of the players stands at that point. The Mini-Games differ in what type of skills they take, and there are many different options to choose from when it comes to playing them. For the pentathlon and the decathlon, the events that will be played are randomly chosen by the system. Here is a list of what Mini-Games they offer:
Button Matching Games:
You must match the button control displayed on-screen with the correct button press on the controller. Examples are Bell Tower Climb and Raise the Flag.
Shooting Games:
Shoot at targets or each other. Aim or move your character with the Control Stick or +Control Pad and press the A or B Button to shoot depending on the game.
*In some games such as Space Junk, press and hold the A Button to power up the shot and fire the target by releasing the A Button.
*In Cannon Tac Toe, you press the Control Stick or +Control Pad to move a cursor to where you want to shoot and press the A Button to fire the cannon.
Collecting Games:
Collect as many items as fast as you can. An example is Knightmares, where you chase down Knights as they scamper around. Catch them and throw them down your well.
Sports Games:
Follow the on-screen directions for each Sports Game. Homerun Castle and 10-Pin Jungle are examples of the many Sports Games. They involve hitting homeruns or bowling in the jungle.
Driving Games:
Race to the finish while collecting Fruit. Steer with the Control Stick or +Control Pad to avoid obstacles and each other or swerve into valuable items.
The game as a whole is an interesting one, and it is fun to play the mini-games with other people. The standings at the end of each game can be saved, along with the statistics and high scores at the end of each session. This can lead to a lot of friendly competition among siblings or friends, and has been one of the main things that have interested us here. The games themselves probably take less than two minutes each, so you aren't burdened with a large time commitment each time you play, and it also means you can play another game quite quickly. The problem is that none of the games really have anything to do with the old Pac-Man, but rather just use the character to play other games. Seems like false-advertising when you purchase the game, so I warn against expecting anything like the older games. It is however fun to play, with some interesting background music, easy to understand controls that really only use A, B, and the directional keys, and great graphics to go along with the Mini-Games. The game is best suited for younger players, but I have had fun playing it, and think that many other people might enjoy it too. The reason I would say younger players, is because it has a relatively simple gameplay, and can be beaten rather quickly by even the most novice of players. I would suggest that if this is going to be a purchase, you would plan to play with multiple players to enjoy it the most. I do recommend it, but keep in mind that it is a relatively simple game, and that low level of complication puts in a category separate from many other games.
**1-4 player simultaneous
**Memory Card uses 10 Blocks
**Rated E for Everyone
